Amazon’s New York HQ May Axe Plans for 1,500 Affordable Housing Units

Amazon’s HQ2 plan rollout in New York City and Virginia state continues apace, as even more eyebrows are raised at the details of how the sausage is being made. The most recent revelation involves two sites in Long Island that had originally been planned for residential developments but will now be turned over to Jeff Bezos’ new headquarters. Those two developments would have provided about 1,500 units of affordable housing for low and middle-income New Yorkers between them.

The fact that massive public subsidies are helping eliminate affordable housing units is just the latest reason this bad deal needs to be torn up and thrown away,” said state Sen. Michael Gianaris, who represents Long Island City.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation has been in charge of the Amazon deal, and their spokesperson Stephanie Baez pushed back against critics. “Tackling the affordability crisis means building more affordable housing — but it also means creating more good-paying jobs,” she said. “Development of commercial office space around Anable Basin will offset concerns about residential overdevelopment that have been expressed by some community residents.”